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Letter from John Spry Morris to William Hill regarding trespasses by non-Mi'kmaq on Mi'kmaq lands at Malagawatch. Explains that a complaint made by Alexander McIntosh and others against Deputy W. Luce for having laid out land for them at Malagawatch that belonged to the Mi'kmaq, was actually "an ingenious story of Indian Claims" in expectation of getting some compensation.
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of the Petitioners is that, having settled on their Lots at Malagawaatchkt before they had sufficiently examined them, they discovered, after making some improvements, that there were not quite two hundred acres of Land for each Person; therefore they attempted to impose on Government the ingenious story of Indian Claims, in expectation of getting some compensation for lost labor, as they termed it, and of [evading?] the payment of the expenses of the survey- In the latter part of their scheme they succeeded , having never paid one shilling to the Deputy Surveyor- I beg leave further to remark that, Donald Mc.Rae whose signature appears to the Petition quitted this Island in 1821 or early in 1822 and never returned , and that [Alexr.?] Mc.Intosh, another subscriber, settled without authority and has not yet had his Lot laid out -

With His Excellency's permission I shall issue another Ticket, to secure the Indians from similar encroachments; with a more exact description of their claims, amounting to about 200 acres for each family, than I was able to make in the first-
I have the honor to be
Sir
your most obedt.
humble Servt.
[T] Crawley J.P. C. B.
--------------------------
William Hill Esqr [Dy Suy?] &c &c


Date: 1823

Retrieval no.: Commissioner of Public Records — Mi'kmaq and Government Relations series Nova Scotia Archives RG 1 volume 430 number 160

Nova Scotia Archives — https://archives.novascotia.ca/mikmaq/archives/?ID=174

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